Announcing the winner of the Daft Punk poster contest!

With the upcoming release of Daft Punk’s new album Random Access Memories (May 21st to be exact!), we thought we’d have some fun and launch an unofficial poster contest in honor of the duo and their highly anticipated tunage.

As per usual, we were BLOWN AWAY by the illustrations submitted by over 250 designers from around the world, and believe me, it was no easy task deciding on our finalists and the overall winner. We had tons of fun giving feedback to everyone who participated, so thanks to you all!

Have a look at the winning illustration and the honorable mentions below — don’t forget to read the well-thought-out stories behind each epic poster design.

Winning design

“Since they are an electronic band, I was working with some colorful elements that are mechanical in nature but also look fluid. Starting from the center of my illustration — the helmet is something like theirs but created in my own unique way with 2 main colors separating them as 2 guys united into something that makes incredible music. I put triangles on the left side because to represent the pyramid stage they stand on in some concerts.

I wanted to give a robotic feel to the whole illustration. The circles above the head represent the eyes. The triangles with pipes on the left are the left hand, and the vinyl is the right hand, all combining together to make a creature with DAFT PUNK typography as its body and legs.”

Runners-up

“The background of my concept is the depiction of how I feel when I am listening to Daft Punk, still the same as the first time; it’s not the feeling that I’m high or flying, but listening to Daft Punk makes me feel like I’m floating! That’s why I drew a floating triangle stone (inspired by the iconic triangular stage of Daft Punk).

Even listening to Daft Punk makes you float without leaving the ground. I can’t think straight — listening to Daft Punk distorts my mind for a while.”

“I’ve been an obsessive Daft Punk fan since I was young, so it was great fun creating a poster to commemorate the new album! My poster depicts 8 years of anticipation for this, no doubt, amazing album.”

“My concept was an old buried piece of technology (a large robot), whose memories were being extracted and discovered by some sort of explorer. The technology of the robot and explorer acknowledge the more synthetic and computerized aspects of Daft Punk’s music. The surrounding flora hint at the music’s vocal and instrumental aspects.”

“All musicians, good or bad, could possess the means to make great sound but Daft Punk music is quite different from what we hear today and, perhaps, their skills extend beyond the empirical music knowledge.

Soo… I imagined a strange machine, almost alien-like equipment, the kind you would probably see in old sci-fi movies, not too futuristic since the music has a groovy vibe. This machine may be a time travel machine since their music brings back the ’70/’80 sound and feel. Or Daft Punk is simply a ‘music machine.'”

“This poster concept is the 2 members of Daft Punk entering a different world than where we are living , a world where memories are kept in some kind of box with sharp edges, and where a variety of memories can be accessed by touching its screen bringing them into the memories they wanted.”

“The 2 members of Daft Punk are represented by each helmet. They’re driving a piece of equipment that produces a CD.

The buildings and sky are a symbol of something that is free, high and wide. Music is something that is free in terms of its creation as well as listeners, anyone can enjoy the freedom. And music can elevate the listener, as motivation and something positive in life. Music has a broad and universal nature…”

“The futuristic landscape with a picture of a flying brain reflects Daft Punk in this new album Random Access Memories; they collaborate with some musicians with different music colors, and they cook all music in their brain factory. Human robots are lifted up into the flying brain, and they create new music with the new Daft Punk style in the brain. The output will be from their collaboration, their influence and their own paradigm because music is the way we think. ”

“The thought process behind this design began with ‘randomly accessing memories of Daft Punk’s Interstella days’ as an iconic representation of the guitar/spaceship.

Considering the guitar as just a small fragment of the RAM data, the idea evolved towards representing more fragments: guitar + piano + unauthorized (thus empty) fragmented pieces, all of which are trying to burst out of a CD.”

“My design was inspired by the word ‘memories.’ Our memory of what happened in life is always stored as fragments in our brain, which creates a dream-like world that could only be understood by oneself. Therefore, the circle is split in half while being connected by abstract lines and shapes. It resembles the motion and energy created in people’s heads while listening to Daft Punk music.”

“I drew space for Random Access Memories. From my experience, I often recall memories when looking at the moon and the stars shining. I used a font that I think is decisive, neat and easy to read. And then the rocket ships, which subtlely feature the helmets inside.”

“The idea was to create an illustration that combines all of the elements that are necessary for creating music. There is a brain at the bottom with wires, and it is green to represent memory [RAM]. In the middle, there is a keyboard, obviously for creating music. There are keys in different colors, just to follow their style.

On top there are planets and a galaxies all connected with that keyboard and brain — everything is connected 🙂 As you can see, there are wires that are creating electric shock and Daft Punk’s name. So everything is a product of their music. And because they are going with a retro style, I tried to design something retro futuristic.”

“I personally call it ‘music for the brain,’ since it has an electronic disco vibe yet there is something deep and dark about it — for example, the Tron soundtrack. I wanted to create something I think represents them, something between the organic and the digital world, yet different from the masked beings that everybody is so used to. This entry is a metaphor for their evolution, trying somehow to incorporate all the facets of their music: from the disco influence to the digital world.”

“I’m using an infamous Daft Punk helmet… a reel to reel retro tape recorder and a synthesizer! The reels make this group of Daft Punk ladies very well endowed indeed! All totally random… have gone slightly nuts and not too polished!”

“I wanted to represent the helmet which Daft Punk is famous for, but didn’t want it to be obvious so the retro style was the way to do it. At the same time I wanted to represent the album and having that box-helmet for a head makes the image more mysterious and the pieces flowing around are abstract pieces of memory.”

“I thought it would be cool to be more into my artistic dimension and try to unite my own style with the robot-dancing-70s kinda style from Daft Punk RAM’s new sounds! So I listened to some tracks to get inspired which I like to name, Random Access Madness!”

‘The artwork is basically a nod towards one of Daft Punk’s earlier albums Human after all, using the classic concept of the Vitruvian Man. I think the idea blends the different directions Daft Punk took over the years really well — combining the human mind with the technoligical beat of our time.”

“My thought process behind this design was to include Daft Punk imagery… their helmets and something else to connect the title of the album. The memories can still be randomly accessed although the cable that connected through the helmets (where the ‘mind and idea’ are) has been broken.”

“This poster was created using some of Daft Punk’s random stuff including their iconic helmets. I used only minimalist graphics and colors, along with modern typography, to bring the nuance of their music and also the modern dance scene into the design.”

“I wanted my design to be a mash of the ideas that come to mind when I think of Daft Punk and the title of their album. To fit the techno vein of the band, as well as the computer RAM idea I wanted it to look schematic, and almost sketchy at that.

In the middle of the design is a brain, where our memories are accessed, in order to provide a humanized contrast to the technology idea — the more traditional ideas of RAM that are computer-based. Daft Punk’s image constantly presents this contrast of human and machine, as a part of their identity is hidden behind robotic helmets and I wanted my design to reflect this.”

That should be enough inspiration to get you through your next design endeavor! Thanks again to everyone who submitted to this contest… we’re sending you loads of “Digital Love”.

Which Daft punk poster design is your favorite?

The author

Kelly works for the marketing team at 99designs. A graduate of UC Berkeley, Kelly lives in San Francisco where she can often be found eating cheetos, playing ping pong or frequenting one of the Bay Area's many parks and cafes with a good book.